


ein kleines Feuer (eine kleine Hoffnung)

by adustyspectacle



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Oblivious Otabek Altin, Otabek Altin-centric, POV Otabek Altin, Post-Season/Series 01, mostly because
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 06:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10565439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adustyspectacle/pseuds/adustyspectacle
Summary: It only hits Otabek much, much later that he's now actually friends with Yuri Plisetsky.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [putsch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/putsch/gifts).



> Title yoinked from Otabek's free skate, because of course. Also uuuuuh, there's a reference to past JJ/Otabek that kinda sneaked in there because I find JJ and Otabek being amicable exes hilarious (and Yuri's reaction when he finds out equally so). Sorry about that.

It only hits Otabek much, much later, after the Grand Prix banquet, after the flight back to Almaty, after the trip to his own apartment, and after he unceremoniously flops on his bed still fully dressed and staring at the ceiling, that he's now actually friends with Yuri Plisetsky.

He takes out his phone, scrolling through his contacts and stares at Yuri's name for a while, just to make sure he's not hallucinating. There's an electrifiying euphoria threatening to burst from under his skin at this delayed stating of the obvious. If he's being completely honest himself, he thought he'd need a few more years before having the courage to talk to Yuri. Otabek certainly wasn't expecting his impulsive decision to save Yuri from his obssessed fangirls to end up with the two of them exchanging contact details. The consequences of his past impulsive decisions are a testament to that.

He gets up and strips down to his underwear, and opens his closet to get a shirt to wear. Otabek, in another fit of impulsiveness, sends Yuri a message.

> Just got home. Congratulations again on your gold. Talk later?

He sets his phone aside, not bothering to wait for a reply. He flops back to his bed, but he finds that he's not sleepy at all.

He rises and goes to the room he reserves for all of his audio equipment, and boots up his laptop. Once it's done, he opens his browser and quickly downloads the sheet music and audio for Yuri's free skate.

He has a remix he wants to do.

* * *

Otabek realizes that, as he stands in front of the door of Yuri's grandpa's house, he's nervous. He and Yuri have been friends for a year—a year of texts, video calls, the rare meeting in person, and a year of Otabek slowly but surely getting more on more active in his social media courtesy of his friend. It's a bit more long-distance than he'd prefer, but it's not any less exhilirating (because it's Yuri).

But it's still only a year. Otabek knows that Nikolai Plisetsky is the most important person in Yuri's life, and to have Yuri invite Otabek to meet him this soon is a monumental honour. His nervousness at this moment is a little bit justified—Otabek knows he's not the most sociable of people. What if Yuri's granpa doesn't like him? What if he thinks he's not a good enough friend for Yuri?

"Beka, what are you doing just standing there?" Yuri's voice pierces through his thoughts. He looks up (when did he look down and started staring at the ground?) and sees Yuri staring at him with a frown in his face.

Otabek shakes his head. "It's nothing," he replies, but it looks like Yuri doesn't believe him. He stretches an arm out and grabs Otabek's hand, gently squeezing it.

"I told you, it's going to be okay. Granpa will love you, I know it," Yuri says, his voice soft and his beautiful face graced with one of his rare smiles. Otabek finds that he can't look away even if he wanted to. "So stop worrying," Yuri adds, smacking Otabek in the face with his own hand for good measure.

It startles a chuckle out of him, and all of his previous nervousness vanishes in a puff of smoke. As Yuri pulls him inside his grandpa's house, Otabek takes note how warm his friend's hand is. It's a sensation he'll likely never forget.

* * *

It's Otabek's 20th birthday and seeing his best friend look so at ease with his numerous family members makes his heart constrict with happiness and his stomach flutter with warmth. He worried about it at first of course. As much as he loves his family they can be a bit overwhelming, and Otabek wouldn't have minded doing a separate birthday celebration with just Yuri. But he shouldn't have worried—when Otabek extended an invitation for his friend to fly to Almaty for his birthday, Yuri agreed without hesitation. He seems excited to finally meet some of Otabek's siblings too, since they sometimes butt in on their video calls.

Yuri turns his head and meets Otabek's eyes. The blonde grins and walks towards him, sitting himself right besides Otabek on the couch. "What's the birthday boy doing in the corner on his own?"

He can't say he's mostly staring at Yuri and feeling happy and content, so instead he says, "Just looking at other people's birthday greetings sent me," and shows Yuri his phone. The most recent message was a video from JJ, and Yuri's face predictably turns into a scowl.

"Did he seriously just send you a rock ballad rendition of 'Happy Birthday' and ended it with 'It's JJ-Style'? What the fuck?"

"He sends one to me with a different theme every time," he replies with a shrug.

That earns him an incredulous look from Yuri. "And this is the guy you lost your virginity to."

Otabek groans. "I regret ever telling you that." It's not that he's ashamed his first sexual experience was with JJ—he's a good guy, if a bit clingy. But... he doesn't know why, but Otabek feels embarrassed knowing that Yuri knows.

"And I regret ever asking, but I don't think any amount of brain bleach will let me forget, so here we are." Yuri rests his head on Otabek's shoulders at that.

"We can pretend this conversation never happened then."

"Let's do that."

They sit in a comfortable silence after that, the only sound the energetic celebrations coming from Otabek's extended family.

"I'm so happy that you're here, Yura. Thank you for coming," Otabek whispers after a while as he rests his head on top of Yuri's head.

Yuri tenses at that, and Otabek was about to get off and apologize when his friend relaxes and nudges him with his shoulder. "I'm really glad I'm here too, so thanks for the invite. I enjoyed talking with your family," Yuri replies.

Silence between the two of them again, no more words needing to be said. It's nice. Peaceful. He can't imagine being any more content than this, with Yuri by his side. Otabek closes his eyes, and even though he knows it's impossible, he wishes for this moment to last anyway.


End file.
